PCMark Vantage - Hard Disk Tests

PCMark(r) Vantage is the first objective hardware performance benchmark for PCs running 32 and 64 bit versions of Microsoft(r) Windows Vista(r). PCMark Vantage is perfectly suited for benchmarking any type of Microsoft(r) Windows Vista PC from multimedia home entertainment systems and laptops to dedicated workstations and high-end gaming rigs. Regardless of whether the benchmarker is an artist or an IT Professional, PCMark Vantage shows the user where their system soars or falls flat, and how to get the most performance possible out of their hardware. PCMark Vantage is easy enough for even the most casual enthusiast to use yet supports in-depth, professional industry grade testing.

FutureMark has developed a good set of hard disk tests for their PCMark Vantage Suite. Windows users can count on Vantage to show them how a drive will perform in normal day to day usage scenarios. For most users these are the tests that matter since many of the old hat ways to measure performance have become ineffective to measure true Windows performance.

HDD1 - Windows Defender

HDD2 - Gaming

HDD3 - Windows Photo Gallery

HDD4 - Vista Startup

HDD5 - Windows Movie Maker

HDD6 - Windows Media Center

HDD7 - Windows Media Player

HDD8 - Application Loading

PCMark Vantage is just not a good benchmark for the Vertex 4 as it relies a lot on single request reads. If you are not a power user with a lot of multitasking going on then you aren't doing a lot of command stacking anyhow.

In this chart it looks like OCZ has removed some of the performance to regular computer users and built a product just for enthusiasts who multitask, but this chart doesn't really tell the whole story either. With the reduced read and write latency over the Vertex 3, Vertex 4 feels just as fast even though it might not actually be in some situations. We'll go into more detail in the final thoughts.

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